Does Jimmy Carter Endorse BDS?

It is no secret that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is harshly critical of Israeli policies in the West Bank. There are now, however, indications that Carter may have entered a new realm of anti-Israel advocacy with an implied endorsement of the campaign to boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) Israel.

As quoted by Al-Jazeera in an April 25 piece, Carter states that he thinks the BDS movement has “been effective on a wide-ranging basis, otherwise the Israelis would not be so upset about it” and that it is “gaining in strength.”

Just as Carter’s 2007 book, “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid,” attempted to mainstream the apartheid analogy commonly used within the anti-Israel movement, his apparent validation of BDS could lead others to believe that this extreme and divisive tactic is legitimate.